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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - ``Chicago Fire'' was last week's most-watched prime-time program while ``Chicago Med,'' which preceded it on NBC, was among four other prime-time programs to average more than 6 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen today.
``Chicago Fire'' averaged 6.993 million viewers. ``Chicago Med'' averaged 6.515 million viewers, finishing fourth among prime-time programs airing between Feb. 20 and Sunday.
``Chicago P.D.'' averaged 5.705 million viewers following ``Chicago Fire,'' sixth for the week and first among programs beginning at 10 p.m., which are generally less-watched on a live-plus-same-day basis than programs beginning earlier.
CBS had three of the week's five-most watched programs to finish first in the network race for the fourth time in five weeks, a run interrupted only by Fox's coverage of Super Bowl LVII. CBS did not finish first during any of the first 18 weeks of the 2022-23 television season. NBC finished first 14 times during the season's first 17 weeks, mainly thanks to ``Sunday Night Football.''
CBS averaged 3.78 million viewers, NBC 3.43 million and ABC 2.97 million, all for 22 hours of prime-time programming.
``FBI'' was CBS' most-watched program, averaging 6.892 million viewers to finish second, one spot ahead of ``60 Minutes,'' which averaged 6.879 million. ``The Equalizer'' averaged 6.514 million viewers following ``60 Minutes'' on CBS, fifth for the week.
CBS also had the week's most-watched first-season series, the police drama ``East New York,'' 15th for the week, averaging 4.657 million viewers, and the most-watched comedy, a rerun of ``Young Sheldon,'' 18th, averaging 4.332 million.
``American Idol'' was ABC's most-watched program for the second time in the two weeks it has aired this season, averaging 5.247 million viewers, retaining 99.6% of the audience from its season premiere a week earlier, which averaged 5.269 million viewers. Fox averaged 2.04 million viewers for its 15 hours, 24 minutes of prime-time programming, topped by ``The Masked Singer,'' 23rd for the week averaging 3.833 million viewers. The CW averaged 480,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program for the third time in four weeks was the magic competition series ``Penn & Teller: Fool Us,'' which averaged 686,000 viewers, 162nd among broadcast programs. Its overall ranking was not available.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of nine CBS scripted programs, its news magazine ``60 Minutes'' and the alternative program ``The Price is Right at Night''; five NBC scripted programs and the alternative program ``America's Got Talent: All-Stars''; and the ABC alternative programs ``American Idol'' and ``America's Funniest How Videos'' and its scripted police drama ``The Rookie.''
Each of the five most-watched prime-time cable programs were editions of the Fox News Channel political talk show ``Tucker Carlson Tonight,'' topped by the Wednesday broadcast, which averaged 3.184 million viewers, 33rd overall. Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network in prime time for the fifth consecutive week, averaging 2.065 million viewers. ESPN averaged 1.058 million viewers to finish second, three spots higher than the previous week, when it averaged 820,000. MSNBC finished third for the second consecutive week following a second-place finish, averaging 1.033 million.
The cable top 20 consisted of 13 Fox News Channel weeknight talk shows (five broadcasts each of ``Tucker Carlson Tonight'' and ``Hannity'' and three of ``The Ingraham Angle'') and its Sunday talk show, ``Life, Liberty & Levin''; the MSNBC news and opinion program, ``The Rachel Maddow Show''; History's long-running chronicle of a search for treasure on a Canadian island, ``The Curse of Oak Island''; all three hourlong segments of the USA Network professional wrestling program ``WWE Raw''; and TNT's coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers' 124-111 victory over the Golden State Warriors Thursday.
The third season of ``Outer Banks'' was Netflix's most-watchedprogram, with viewers watching the 10 episodes of the adventure drama for 154.97 million hours the first four days they were available. ``We Have a Ghost'' was Netflix's most-watched movie, with viewers watching the horror comedy for 40.47 million hours in its first three days of release.
The week's most-watched Spanish-language program was Univision's coverage of the Premio Lo Nuestro Latin music awards show, which averaged 2.267 million viewers, 61st among the week's prime-time broadcast and cable programs. Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 29th consecutive week and 167th time in 169 weeks, averaging 1.48 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 1.02 million viewers, followed by UniMas (390,000) and Estrella TV (80,000).
ABC's ``World News Tonight with David Muir'' was the most-watched nightly newscast for 168th time in 169 weeks and 220th time in 222 weeks, averaging 8.298 million viewers. ``NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' was second, averaging 7.204 million viewers, and the ``CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell'' third, averaging 5.055 million viewers. The week's 10 most-watched prime-time programs were NBC's ``Chicago Fire''; CBS' ``FBI,'' and ``60 Minutes''; NBC's ``Chicago Med''; CBS' ``The Equalizer''; NBC's ``Chicago P.D.''; ABC's ``American Idol''; CBS' ``FBI: International''; NBC's ``America's Got Talent: All-Stars'' and ``Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.''